The Ethereum Blockchain Is Superior to Bitcoin, Says Private Banker

Mike McGovern, head of investor services fintech offerings at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., a long-established U.S. private bank, said the Ethereum blockchain is superior to Bitcoin’s. He came to this conclusion after his company studied blockchain technology for five years, beginning at an R&D center in Krakow, Poland.

One reason, he is cited as saying by Business Insider, is Ethereum is less expensive. Mining Ether tokens requires less electricity than bitcoin’s.

Ethereum’s Unique Properties

Another reason is the purpose of the currency. Where bitcoin was intended to be a currency, Ethereum was intended as a platform where two parties could enter into a contract, a “smart contract,” without a third party, according to Paul McNeal, a cryptocurrency investor.

The Ethereum platform is powered by tokens that can serve as currency and also represent assets, shares, proof of membership and other functions.

McGovern said Ethereum is more robust than bitcoin and has more applications beyond financial transactions.

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Nathaniel Popper, author of “Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money,” said Ethereum was intended to do more than serve as a digital money. The Ethereum network can do computational functions, enabling decentralized applications known as Dapps. This has resulted in a big programmer community working on the software.

A recent survey cited in The New York Times reported 94% of companies feel positive about Ether tokens while only 49% said the same for bitcoins.

MGT Capital To Mine Ethereum

MGT Capital, a financial company that has expanded into mining bitcoin in 2016, recently announced it will mine Ethereum. On June 23, MGT announced that the company reached an agreement with Bit5ive LLC to purchase 60 graphics-processor-based mining computers, which will be used by the firm to mine for Ether.

John McAfee, who operates MGT Capital, said he is more convinced each day of the value and growth of digital currencies, and that his company is positioned to be the leading provider of bitcoin processing power.

MGT Capital initially pitched itself to investors mostly as a cybersecurity company before focusing on cryptocurrencies. In May, McAfee said MGT will turn profitable with bitcoin mining in the center of activities of the firm, and have a goal of becoming the biggest in the world.